The Farmer's Daughter
by kapower
Summary: Natsu Dragneel was just trying to find work in a world full of stuck-up people when he met Lucy Heartfilia at his new weird job as a ranch hand for pyrotisserie and undead devil goats. But if he thought the animals were weird, why was the farmer's daughter so bright? No really, she's glowing.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello and welcome to my first ever fanfic! I've only been on tumblr for a little over 7 months, but I've read countless Fairy Tale fanfics and me, being the FT lover that I am, wanted to give it a shot as well! I was listening to the song "The Farmer's Daughter" by Rodney Atkins and became inspired!

A hUUUUUge thanks to my senpai  not-just-any-fangirl for giving me tips, ideas, and editing my first chapter. You and your writing are amazing and it still befuddles me that you still talk to a little snail like me 3 If you haven't already, you need to check out her story "What Hides In Plain Sight" because it is amaze balls.

 **Chapter 1: Dust In My Nose**

* * *

The first thing he noticed was the smell.

Star dust. And _a lot_ of it. It was weird, because it didn't make sense for it to be so strong in a place like this.

It's just a ranch. A huge ass ranch with its own fucking mountain range and forest.

Seriously, thousands of trees that were spread out over hundreds of acres were abruptly cut off by steep mountains with snow tipped peaks.

But he supposed the place needed to be big if they were going to have flying horses.

Pegasus. He remembered the name after one almost knocked its hoof into the back of his head.

They were pretty cool he had to admit. And Natsu Dragneel is not easily impressed any more.

Their wings of course were their most noticeable feature, beautiful, and strong. When fully out stretched a full-grown pegasus' wingspan could reach from forty, to forty-five feet wide. Their manes and tails trailed behind them like scarves in the wind, matching tufts of feathery and light hair extended from the backs of their heels. Their color range was more exotic than a regular horses', the common browns and blacks rarely seen in the herds.

Looking at the two up in the sky, Natsu's eyes were drawn to the one that almost hit him earlier. It was a charcoal black on his coat, white speckles splattered across it like paint, but come mid wing, it began to turn into a midnight blue with white feathers peeking out in random places. Almost like stars in the night sky. The other was entirely white. Literally, the whole thing. Even his eyes, which Natsu thought was kind of creepy. He could only make out these details due to his enhanced eye sight, no normal human capable of making out these details of the creatures at their current height.

But Natsu was no normal human.

The two beasts began to circle Natsu as they slowly lowered themselves from the sky. He was nearing the herd in the pasture on his right, and by now he had their full attention.

The black one landed first, a good thirty feet from him. The white one landed closer, taking up a seemingly defensive position between Natsu and the herd. He was shaking his head up and down and stomping at the ground with his front hooves, signaling the herd of Natsu's approach.

So he was the dominant one. This'll be interesting.

This situation was the exact reason why Makarov chose Natsu for this job. He could deal with animals better than anyone else in Fairy Tail, except for maybe Lisanna. But Lisanna and Natsu were two completely different people.

Natsu began to slowly, yet confidently approach the stallion. Even as the creature reared back and beat his mighty wings. Natsu showed no fear as he allowed the powerful gusts of wind to wash against him. While looking the animal in the eyes, Natsu began to emit a low, deep hum from within his throat. It wasn't threatening, nor was it a sign of submission. He was merely trying to convey to the beast that he meant no harm and just wanted acceptance.

At the sound of Natsu's hum, the pegasus stopped beating his wings to stretch them as high as he could, making himself seem bigger and more threatening. But Natsu was not intimidated. He continued his approach and hum until he was just a few feet from the beast, stopping to simply stare at it.

The pegasus broke first. Flaring its nostrils, it bent its head to Natsu's level to sniff him. After a few moments, the creature pressed its muzzle to Natsu's forehead and spread its wings in an arc around him as a sign of acceptance.

Tentatively, Natsu raised a hand to pet the beast. It jerked back at first, but Natsu tried again, and this time, the pegasus met him half way, allowing Natsu to stroke its neck.

"You did a good job," Natsu praised him. "If I was anyone else, I would have backed down."

The pegasus simply snorted, and left Natsu to return to its herd.

Natsu continued his walk on the dirt path to the residence of the farmer. All the while looking around, trying to see if there was anything abnormal that would explain the strong smell of star dust.

It was like he was _in_ it. It was everywhere, in the air, in the earth. Nothing in the land didn't have at least a small trace of it. But it didn't make sense, there didn't seem to be anything special about this place. Sure, it was a pretty nice ranch, but nothing overly special aside from how big it was.

Several large pastures laid out on either side of the dirt path. A couple had wooden fences that reached about fifteen feet in height. Curious, Natsu walked closer to see just what kind of large animals were hidden behind these fences. But to Natsu's confusion, all he could see were sheep.

Sheep?

 _Why the hell would they make such huge fences for sheep?_ Natsu wondered. Yet no sooner had he thought it, the sheep whipped their heads up to look at him. And when a slight breeze brought Natsu's scent floating over to them, they immediately began to leap as far away from him as possible. Bounding several feet high into the air in a single jump.

Huh, that was kinda cool.

After witnessing that interesting spectacle, Natsu turned around to head back to the house.

Upon arriving at the front steps, he couldn't help but gawk at the sight. A three story mansion, white from the roof to the porch was set up before him. Eight pillars held up a deck that extended from the second floor and wrapped around the entire building. The only thing not white about this place were the two huge doors at the front of the mansion.

They were a light gold with two key holes, one on each door, that looked like only a certain large key could fit through. And above the doors were the words:

 _'The Celestial Plains: The Gate that separates and the Bridge that brings us together.'_

Natsu didn't understand what that meant, but he just dismissed it as something family related.

After knocking a few times, the doors opened to reveal a man in his mid forties with graying hair and a mustache. He was wearing a business suit that Natsu would probably have to spend a months worth of living costs to pay for.

Jude Heartfilia didn't know what to think of the boy standing in his door way. First off, his hair was pink, and spiked out in every direction like he hadn't tried to do anything with it this morning. He was wearing a plain black v-neck shirt with ripped, blue denim jeans and brown combat boots. Around his neck was a white, scaly scarf that looked like it needed to be washed.

Jude Heartfilia was not impressed.

Although he had to admit that the boy looked like he could handle the job.

He was fit, extremely so, but not overly bulky. His skin was tanned to a dark, golden brown from obviously large amounts of time in the sun. He emitted an aura that was confident, maybe even a bit cocky, but he looked like he could handle himself well. When Jude looked up to see his eyes, they were shining with eagerness, and curiosity. He wasn't the least bit nervous. A large grin split across his face, crinkling the scar that started from his jaw line and tilted up to the corner of his right eye, almost touching his nose.

"Yo!" Natsu raised a hand in greeting. "I'm Natsu Dragneel from the organization Fairy Tail. I'm here about the job request you put out."

Jude looked at him for a few more seconds before answering.

"Jude Heartfilia. Owner of the Celestial Plains." He replied briskly.

Natsu was slightly surprised. He was expecting the guy to look more like, well, a farmer. You know, straw hat and over-alls. Jude looked like a CEO of a company that's never worked outside a day in his life.

He stepped aside to allow Natsu in, and immediately the star dust scent became increasingly stronger.

Where was it _coming_ from? Natsu took a subtle sniff in Jude's direction. Nope. Not him. Of course, it couldn't be just him. It wouldn't explain why the entire ranch smelt like it too. Guess he'll have to do a bit of investigating. Maybe he'd ask Levy when he got back.

Jude led Natsu through a couple hallways until he reached a door at the end that brought them into a grand room. It was a large office-or was it a small library?-with bookshelves that reached the ceiling. Jude sat down at the mahogany desk in front of the window at the back wall and motioned for Natsu to do the same at the side opposite him.

"I'll expect you here early, six days a week, Monday through Saturday, at eight o' clock."

Great, he was using _that_ tone of voice with him. If there was one thing that Natsu hated, it was being talked to like he was lower than the other person.

"Your shift will end at 7 or whenever you finish your duties for the day. You'll have an hour lunch break at noon and one other thirty minute break that you can use any time during the day. Your jobs won't be overly difficult, so you should have no problem getting them done in a timely manner."

Natsu simply nodded in response, Jude raising an eyebrow at his lack of verbal agreement. But continued none the less.

Boys like him knew nothing about manners, so he wasn't expecting too much from him.

"Today, I'm leaving for a business trip out of town, and won't be back for a few weeks. You'll be answering to Capricorn in the meantime."

Immediately, there was a knock at the door. A tall man, wearing a black suit and shades, walked into the room. He had white hair, and a white goatee. Natsu couldn't tell much about him from the man's face. It was completely neutral. But when he walked past Natsu to stand next to Jude in his chair, the star dust scent spiked.

It was like he was made of the stuff! Besides star dust, Natsu could detect the scent of light. It was…pure. For lack of a better word.

"Capricorn this is Natsu Dragneel. He's accepted the job request that I've put out. He'll be answering to you while I'm gone. Be sure to tell him everything he needs to know." Jude told Capricorn sternly.

They looked at each other for a bit longer. Seeming to have a private conversation before Capricorn replied.

"Yes Sir Heartfilia." Capricorn slightly bowed his head. "He will be well taught."

Satisfied with his response, Jude stood up from his chair to leave.

"Very good. I'll leave him to you then." Jude then directed his attention to Natsu. "Mr. Dragneel, I hope things go well for you." And with that, he walked out of his office, jacket and briefcase in hand, leaving Capricorn and Natsu by themselves.

A brief moment passed before Capricorn spoke to Natsu.

"Mr. Dragneel, if you'll follow me."

Capricorn led Natsu out of the office and into the hallway. As they were coming around a corner Natsu could tell that the scent of star dust and light was getting stronger. He could hear voices talking in hushed tones.

"-don't think this is a good idea."

"-know who he is?"

"-if he finds out about-"

Capricorn cleared his throat loudly to gain the attention of the ten individuals sitting hunched over on the plush sofas. Their heads snapped up, and upon seeing Natsu immediately stood up.

The smell, he could sense it from all of them! Something seriously weird was going on with this place, and he was going to find out what.

"Mr. Dragneel, this is the rest of the staff. Leo, Virgo, Taurus, Aquarius, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aries, and Gemini, the twins."

Each person gave a nod and a small 'hello' when their name was called. All except for Aquarius. She looked at Natsu with a look of disdain. Her arms were crossed across her chest and a deep scowl was on her face. Natsu slightly narrowed his eyes at her, which didn't go unnoticed.

"Tsk," she scoffed," _this_ is the brat that's going to be working with us? Where did Jude find him, the dump?"

Natsu growled slightly at the woman. " My name is Natsu Dragneel," he said proudly, "I'm from the organization Fairy Tail upon Jude's request."

Aquarius' eyes, along with everyone else's, widened at the name. " _Fairy Tail_? Oh you've got to be kidding! Those idiots can't do anything without destroying something! If he gets anywhere near Lu-"

"That's enough Aquarius." Leo cut her off sharply. He faced Natsu with a slight grin. "Sorry about her. She can be pretty bitter most of the time. That's just her though."

Aquarius sent a death glare at Leo and Natsu shivered slightly at the sight. She could be scary. "You'll see. Nothing good will come out of him being here." And with a last glare towards Natsu, she marched out of the room, Scorpio right on her heels.

Leo sighed. From what Natsu could see he was used to her over-dramatic tendencies.

"Leo," Capricorn addressed the orange haired male, " have everyone complete the rest of the chores and see if you can find our missing light." Leo raised an eyebrow at the last part, but still complied. He, along with the others, filed out of the room to complete their duties. Leo turned to look back at Natsu with a pondering glance before walking out the door.

"Come with me Mr. Dragneel." Capricorn said.

The rest of the afternoon Capricorn showed Natsu around the first floor of the mansion and the rest of the ranch. He wasn't allowed up to the second or third floors unless specifically asked by Jude himself and Capricorn was positive that he never would. Natsu didn't ask why he couldn't go up there. He was sure he wouldn't get an answer and if he did, it would probably be something vague that would leave him more confused about this place than he already was.

Capricorn showed him the large barn with piles of hay, different types of feed, and shavings. There were closets full of tools and supplies for various jobs around the ranch that he was shown how to use. Including the large red tractor in the corner.

Natsu liked that tractor. It was _red._ His favorite color. He fondly named it Igneel.

Next he was directed to a large chart up on the wall that had the different animals listed along with directions on how to care for them.

The names were simple enough, common ones that he knew. Cows, chickens,pigs, goats…But, why would have to wear ear muffs _and_ ear plugs when feeding the pigs? And why would he have to wear a mask when herding the cows? Fire proof gloves for handling the chickens?! Were they serious?!

"Uh, hey Capricorn?" Natsu hesitantly asked. The man turned his head to look at Natsu. "Why do I have to wear all this crap when working with these animals?"

And for the first time, Natsu saw Capricorn's lips twitch up into a sly smile.

Natsu didn't trust that smile. Not one bit.

"You'll figure it out Mr. Dragneel. You're a smart young man, I'm sure." Capricorn chuckled a bit before his cool mask returned to his face. But before Natsu could say anything, they both could hear a commotion outside.

Capricorn perked up at the sound, his eyebrows raising. He didn't look at Natsu when he spoke next, not even while he was walking away from him.

"You can go home now Mr. Dragneel. It's already late afternoon, you can start tomorrow. Don't be late." And with that, Capricorn picked up his pace and walked out of the barn.

Natsu frowned slightly. What was going on? Was something wrong? When he walked outside, he saw those that he met earlier, along with a few others that he hadn't, in a group appearing to be surrounding something. All with smiles on their faces. Even Aquarius had a slight smile on her face.

He tried to see clearly what they were looking at, but they were too huddled around it. At one point, Capricorn stepped away slightly just enough for Natsu to catch a glimpse of golden strands of hair before the person was herded into the house.

Natsu looked up to see Aquarius already glaring at him. But just as quickly as he caught her gaze, she left, following the large group back into the house.

What was her problem? Why is this place so weird? Who was that person that they were all fussing over? Natsu had so many questions about this strange place. And he was excited to find out. Another adventure awaited him and he couldn't wait to get started.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here's the second chapter! I've already posted it on tumblr, as well as ao3 if anyone is on there. Sorry for that last werid update, thank you Monsosar for letting me know!:)

This chapter was a lot of fun to write, and I hope y'all like it as much as I do :)

Creds to the lovely not-just-any-fangirl for editing 3

 **Chapter Two: Dance With The Devil**

* * *

Being a morning person never really bothered Natsu. He treasured those rare sunrises where he woke up early enough to watch the sky bleed red and then quickly begin to blush a light pink.

He knew Jude said that he didn't have to be there until 8, but his natural curiosity and the weirdness of the place made him get there early to do some investigating.

He had already answered one of the many questions floating around in his brain this morning when he drove through the front gates.

When did the smell start?

The second Natsu had driven over the threshold, the smell was there. It was immediate, like a sudden downpour of rain from seemingly innocent gray clouds. There was no warning, no gradual increase or build up to it.

Natsu reversed past the wooden fence out back onto the dirt road.

…Nothing. Not even a wiff.

He pulled forward.

Star dust, meteors, shooting stars. He could smell it all.

So it was, literally, just the ranch that smelled like the stars, not even the area outside the perimeter…Interesting.

Natsu pulled his red pick up truck to the barn and hopped out to where Capricorn was already standing at the door waiting for him.

Well there went his investigating time. How did he know he was coming early?

"Good morning Mr. Dragneel," Capricorn greeted smoothly.

"Mornin' Cap!" Natsu replied cheerfully. "What's up?"

"'What is up' is that you'll be working with the goats today." Capricorn said.

"Cool! Are they weird like the other animals on that chart too?" Natsu asked.

Capricorn's lips twitched slightly before answering. "Not particularly, just be gentle with them. They're quite fragile, but if you agitate them too much, they have the temper of a devil." Apparently that last part was some type of a joke because Capricorn actually chuckled a bit before covering it up with a cough.

Natsu was worried. He didn't usually do gentle. At all. He was actually well known for his destructive tendencies. Especially for things with explosions, or anything with fire. But he had to do this. If he went back to Fairy Tail fired on the first day, Erza would "castrate him and then nail his testicles on her trophy wall in her bedroom" as she so sweetly put it. But it wasn't even the thought of losing his family jewels that had Natsu so antsy.

It was _Gray_.

That ice bastard. Natsu had come back early from a job before for being fired for, completely accidental, destruction of property. Seriously, the guy had wanted Natsu to grill a bunch of steaks for his party that he was having later, and Makarov thought it was innocent enough for him to handle, but the man didn't say how he wanted them cooked. So Natsu burnt them to the consistency of charcoal- because how else would you eat a steak?- and thought that he could get them all done with a simple fire dragon's roar. What Natsu didn't count on though was the field of dry grass getting burnt as well…and half of the guy's house. Gray had mocked the shit out of him for it, which led to their usual daily brawls, which brought the destruction of half of the building.

Cana and Mira had beaten the hell out them for destroying the bar. Mira because that was her work station, and Cana because they broke "the good stuff" that was behind the counter. And then of course Erza had banged their heads together giving them both mild concussions, demanding that they immediately start on repairs.

He would not be put through that again.

"Sure, Cap. Not a problem," Natsu assured him.

'I can do this, I can do this' Natsu chanted through his brain as he walked to the barn to look at the chart for the instructions on the goats.

Nothing too difficult, cleaning out the stalls, grooming, making sure they get their daily dose of flesh…

Wait what?

Natsu checked that last part again. Yup, raw, unseasoned flesh. He was supposed to fill a whole trough full of it. Well whatever floats their boats.

He walked over to the feed room. And at the very end was a locked closet with a sign that said:

DO NOT OPEN UNLESS FEEDING THE GOATS. IF YOU LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN, I WILL DROWN YOU DOWN TO THE SEVEN RINGS OF HELL.

-Aquarius

Natsu did not doubt that she would.

Upon unlocking and opening the door, the most foul stench Natsu ever had the displeasure of smelling wafted into his sensitive nostrils.

Shelves full of rotten flesh were stacked up before him. Natsu could usually depict whether the scent is mammal or human, but the smell was so profuse there was no way he would be able to. He couldn't tell by looking at it either. It was all mushed up together in browns and pinks.

Trying to keep the dozen pancakes down he had this morning, Natsu put on some gloves and was trying to figure out if he should breathe through his nose or his mouth. Neither was appealing so he just tried to hold his breath.

Natsu quickly grabbed a shovel and dumped a bunch of the meat into a wheelbarrow to take outside. He swiftly ran outside to the pen filled with the goats to find the trough.

He was in so much of a hurry that he didn't notice the goat in his path until he sent it flying in front of him.

Oh _shit_.

"Oh god, shit, shit, shit, fuck me. I'm dead. This is it. My life is over. The Dragneel's are over. Forgive me Igneel." Natsu was frantic. He ran over to the goat only to see it laying down unmoving with it's neck at an odd angle.

"Jesus, I'm so sorry little guy, oh my god." Natsu got up and started pacing back and forth.

"Uh hey Jude," Natsu mumbled to himself, "so I kinda killed one of your goats on accident by plowing it over. I'm really sorry, please don't fire me 'cause I really don't want to lose my ba-"

 _Grooooaaan_

What…the actual…fuck.

Natsu slowly turned around to see the goat that was dead mere seconds ago standing up and snapping it's neck back into place.

"Holy-you just-fuck my ass you just came back to life!" Natsu exclaimed. The little goat with horns slightly longer and spikier than normal simply stood still and looked at him.

"That was coolest thing I've ever seen! You're such a-OW!" Faster than Natsu would think possible, the goat bolted forward and rammed its head into Natsu's legs.

"What the hell man!? I said I was sorry! SHIT! Would you _stop_?!" The goat continued to chase Natsu around the pen, attempting to keep ramming him in the process. It looked like Natsu was doing a strange dance in the distance. He not only had to dodge the little devil's attacks, he had to swerve around the other goats that were just standing around.

A light giggle a ways off alerted Natsu that he was not alone with the animals. He quickly snapped his head up just in time to see a pair of big, chocolate brown eyes looking right at him before they disappeared into the forest the person was hiding in.

But in that moment of hesitation, the goat that was ever pursuing him took the opportunity to slam Natsu right into the waiting wheelbarrow of flesh that had yet to be poured in the trough.

Fucking hell…

* * *

Leo and Scorpio couldn't stop laughing.

When Natsu came into the house later on in the evening covered in dirt and smelling like the apocalypse, they knew exactly what happened.

"You killed one of the goats didn't you." Leo dead panned. It wasn't even a question.

"I…yeah. I did." Natsu admitted sheepishly.

"Dude, that goat gave you hell." Scorpio laughed out.

That little shit is Lucifer himself," Natsu muttered angrily, "I wouldn't have taken this long if the thing would have just left me alone!"

"I warned you about their temper Mr. Dragneel."Capricorn said.

"Yeah, yeah," Natsu gave him a dismissive wave of the hand, "I'm gonna go take a show-"

"WHO LEFT THE FUCKING MEAT CLOSET OPEN?!"

* * *

It turned out that Natsu didn't have to take a shower. Aquarius had washed him out of the house and out onto the dirt road, leaving him looking like a wet dog. She wouldn't let him back inside to properly wash off either, so Natsu just headed back to his truck.

He didn't see the golden hair flowing out behind the trees when he left.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** This chapter was a turd to write -_- But a few characters are introduced, and some good plot development happens! It's also a bit angsty in the beginning, but I think every good story needs some angst :)

 **\- N-** After talking with my beta, this story's rating will be changing to **M** , for **MATURE**. For any of my readers who don't fancy this rating, don't worry, there will not be an excessive amount of smut, but there will be T+ in between. I will give appropriate warnings for when it comes, but we're no where near any of that happening yet :)

Once again, creds to the queen not-just-any-fangirl for editing 3

 **Chapter Three: When Stars Align**

* * *

The snapping of branches nearby startled her, breaking her concentration. Today had been a gift. For the past month and a half she had the worst writers block and lost all motivation for the current chapter in her novel. Home wasn't helping. Her father had been practically breathing down her neck lately with how close he's been trying to keep an eye on her, always cautioning her to keep her "issues" under control.

Yeah, because it's _so_ easy to keep multiple, spontaneous, and to mention destructive, curses under control.

Brushing those negative thoughts away, Lucy Heartfilia instead focused on the area where she heard the disturbance. It was probably just a squirrel, but she could never be too careful.

Even in these woods of tall aspen and pine trees that she's learned to call more of a home than that over-glorified mansion down the mountain, she had experienced her fair share of dangers.

But she had always had her protector.

"Punn Punn~!"

"There you are Plue! I was wondering where you went." Lucy walked over to the little snow man looking creature and scooped him gently up into her arms.

Plue shivered in response, and snuggled deeper into Lucy's warm chest.

"I guess it is about time we start heading back," Lucy sighed. She never looked forward to leaving the solace of her secret places.

Here, she could be herself. She didn't have to be careful. She didn't always have to have a babysitter, someone always there in case she went through another unexpected "episode."

Here, she didn't have to train. Countless hours of seemingly unsuccessful exercises to get a handle on at least _one_ of her curses were all forgotten. She didn't want to think of that place. A place where she should have many wonderful, fun, _loving_ memories with a happy family.

At least, that's what all of her books said a home was like.

Instead, she remembers loneliness. Even though her father was always there, along with the people that he hired to watch over her and teach her, the house always felt empty.

Her tutors were lovely people, even Aquarius, but she was never allowed to extensively talk with them unless it was time for one of her lessons. Whether it be for school, or her curses. Her father kept her under strict rules, never allowing her to leave the ranch. Never allowing her to make any friends.

It wouldn't be safe for them, and Lucy knew that. She'd only ever hurt them, and she would never forgive herself, of that she was certain.

She only had a few good memories, and they all centered around the one person she ever truly depended on.

Her mother.

Even now, she could clearly recall the shimmer of her golden hair and the soft smile that was reserved only for her. If she tried hard enough, she could remember her voice, smooth and kind, trying to the best of her ability to help Lucy cope with her new found abilities. She would tell her grand stories about princesses and fairies on her bedside. In the background, she could see her father leaning against the doorframe with a warm smile.

But that warmth was long gone now. Along with her mother.

Lucy felt a sudden wetness slide down her cheek and hastily reached up to wipe away the treacherous tear.

Crying wouldn't bring back her mother or the warmth she so desperately craved to feel again. She knew. She'd tried hundreds of times when she was younger.

Plue looked up at her questioningly, and reached up with a white paw to rest it under her jaw.

"I'm fine Plue," Lucy gave him a shaky smile, "now let's head back before dad sends the blue monster after us."

Lucy hadn't even made it to the front door before the entire crew, had swarmed her in front of the steps to greet her.

Had she been gone too long? She supposed that staying up in the mountains in a place where no one would find her for two days was a bit worrisome, but she'd been gone longer before.

She was quickly ushered inside while everyone stayed unnaturally close to her. What was with them? It was like they didn't want her to see something… Capricorn came up to her then, a small grin on his face.

"Welcome back Miss Lucy." His slight ba made Lucy smile.

"It feels good to be back Capricorn." But Lucy felt anything but good at the moment. Aquarius was giving her a deathly look, and she knew she'd be in trouble once she got inside.

But before she stepped through the front door, she caught a flash of pink in the corner of her eye.

...What was that?

* * *

Everyone was being uncharacteristically quiet, and it was putting Lucy on edge. Short 'hello's' and 'glad you're back's' and 'don't worry us like that again's' were exchanged before everyone left the living room.

Everyone but Aquarius.

She just looked at Lucy for a few seconds before sighing and slowly shook her head back and forth.

"You're such a brat," she said, although there was no harshness in her voice, "when will you ever listen? You _know_ you're not supposed to go anywhere by yourself."

"I wasn't by myself," Lucy said matter-of-factly, "Plue was with me."

"Ah yes," Aquarius said dryly, "the dog that would more than likely just pee on the spot instead of protecting you while you're being mauled by a bear. He doesn't count Lucy."

"I can take care of myself," Lucy said through gritted teeth, "I'm nineteen years old, I don't need a babysitter."

"Don't you start that with me girl," Aquarius narrowed her eyes and pointed at her, "you _know_ you're not stable. You just got lucky that you didn't have an episode while you were out being Miss Rebellious. You can't control them Lucy, you need to be watched out for."

Tears of defiance began to well up in Lucy's eyes. "I'm better at it now, they're not as frequent."

"Bull shit," Aquarius spat, "you're no better at controlling them then when you were six years old. Stop trying to blow everything off Lucy, you're only fooling yourself."

"It's not my fault!" Lucy cried. The tears were falling now, unbidden even though she'd tried to stop them, "I didn't ask to be born this way! I didn't ask to have these stupid curses! I never wanted any of this!"

Aquarius closed her eyes and took a long, slow breath through her nose before letting it out just as slowly through her mouth to try and calm herself down.

"I know Lucy…I know." She walked over to her and wrapped the sobbing girl in her arms. "Remember what your mother used to say?"

Lucy sniffled a bit before answering quietly, "They're not curses, they're gifts. You're not a mistake, you're a blessing."

"That's right," Aquarius pulled her back to look at her, "and until you get that through your thick skull, you won't get any further than you are now."

Lucy gave her a small grin and nodded her head while wiping away her tears. Aquarius looked at her fondly before clearing her throat and backing away from her now.

"Now," she stated firmly, "we have a new worker while you're father is out on these business trips." Lucy jerked her head up, eyes wide. A new worker? Someone outside the ranch?

…A potential new friend?

"I suggest you get that starry look out of your eyes girl," Aquarius said, "your father has strict rules that you are not allowed to have any contact with this man. None. Period."

Lucy's eyes fell down to her feet. Of course she wouldn't be allowed near him. She wasn't allowed beyond the ranches boundaries. She wasn't allowed to have internet. She wasn't allowed to have other friends…Of course, she understood why she couldn't. It wouldn't be safe.

Aquarius put her hand on her shoulder, "You know it's for the best Lucy. We just want to keep you safe," she said softly.

Lucy nodded her head before walking out of the room. Once she made it outside of the house and away from watchful eyes, she made a dash for the woods. Running as fast as her legs would take her, all the while with a smile on her face.

She couldn't touch, but they didn't say anything about looking.

She'd never met another person before. And her curiosity was practically oozing out of her.

What was he like? Did he look like her? Did he have powers too? She _had_ to know.

She stopped suddenly when she heard the goats moaning to her left. But what really caught her attention was the shout that accompanied them. She ran until she could see the pasture through the leaves, slowing down to hide behind a large tree.

Her eyes scanned through the goats until she saw something pink.

Pink? Sure enough, it was the same pink that caught her attention earlier. To her happy surprise, Lucy felt her magic power begin to rise at her call. She was too far away to get a good look with her normal eye sight, she'd need to use her stealth ability to look closer.

She peered her head around from the tree and narrowed her sights on the pink blob.

He had large eyes. Even with her magic she couldn't precisely tell the color. They looked like a dark green, like pine needles. He was muscular, his forearms flexed from the strain of pushing the wheelbarrow of flesh. His mouth was open from breathing heavily, and even from where she was she could see how sharp his canines were. Over all, she thought he was quite handsome. Even though she'd never seen very many men in her life, her books had pictures, and Loke and Scorpio were good looking she thought.

But this man, he was different…

His laugh was loud, and carefree, his eyes were shining with energy and adventure.

She wanted, more than anything, to be able to talk with him, even if it were only for a moment. She wanted to be carefree, to go beyond the ranch on her own great adventure.

He was dancing around one of the goats when it suddenly began to attack him, ramming its head into his legs. He must have killed it she realized, but she was too lost in thought to see it. Though now, he was doing the funniest dance she'd ever seen.

She tried not to, she really did, but a small giggle bubbled up from her throat before she could stop it, and the man's eyes snapped to hers. Later she'd think about how strange it was that he'd heard her as far away as she was, but now all she could think about was his eyes. Now that he was looking at her, she could see golden flecks sparkling in the center. But he shouldn't be seeing her, she shouldn't be looking at him. She quickly whipped her head back behind the tree and ran deeper into the forest.

Her heart was beating furiously in her chest though she'd barely ran at all. The thrill of it all had her adrenaline rising…but also her magic.

A sudden pain on her left shoulder blade had Lucy stumbling to a stop. She looked over her shoulder to see it glowing slightly.

This had all of her adrenaline leave her in an instant. She needed to calm down. And she need to do it _now_.

Lucy immediately sat on the ground and crisscrossed her legs. She laid her hands on her lap, palms upward and closed her eyes.

In and out…In and out…

She continued to breathe slowly until she felt her heart rate slow down. The pain had dulled, but it was still there. She was going to have another episode again, and it would be soon.

Her eyes burned with unshed tears, but she wouldn't cry this time. This was normal. This was her life.

No matter how much she wished it wasn't.

* * *

"How much ya wanna bet he's gonna come back fired?"

"I'm not betting my money on something guaranteed like that Gajeel."

"Gajeel, Gray, you two wouldn't happen to be betting on whether or not Natsu will come back fired again would you? Because I distinctly remember telling everyone to _not_ to."

"E-Erza! Of course not!" Gray exclaimed.

"Tch, pussy,"Gajeel muttered.

Gray gave him an icy glare but then looked questioningly at Erza, "Seriously though Erza, shouldn't flame brain be back by now?"

"Hmm, now that you mention it, he should be-"

"What is that smell?!"

Gajeel, Wendy, and even Laxus all had disgusted looks and were covering their noses.

"What are you all talk-"Gray had begun to ask, but then everyone in the guild could smell what the dragons were talking about. And it was horrendous.

Suddenly, the doors were burst open, and in walked a proud, yet soggy Natsu, still dripping water from Aquarius' impromptu bath.

"Gray! Gajeel! You bastards, I heard you trying to bet on me!" Natsu called out.

"Shut the fuck up Salamander and go take a shower, you smell like shit!" Gajeel shouted.

"You wanna say that again iron breath?!" Natsu challenged.

"For real though Natsu, what the hell happened? You look like a drowned cat." Cana said, laughing while tipping back her ever present bottle of beer.

"Hey! I take offense to that!" I small voice said.

"Happy!" Natsu said gleefully. "Why didn't you go with me today?"

"I didn't want to go all the way out there with you just to come back because you got fired. So I went fishing instead!" The first part of the flying blue cat's explanation had everyone roaring with laughter.

"I'll have you all know that I wasn't fired this time thank you very much!" Natsu said proudly.

" _What_?!" The guild exclaimed all at once.

"You heard me," Natsu taunted, "I didn't lose the job!"

"Then why the hell do you smell like death?" Gray asked.

Natsu then proceeded to tell everyone about the whole day. Including his odd findings, such as the way the place smelled and some of the peculiar creatures that they had. He had everyone laughing when he got to the part with the goats.

"Those sound like undead goats to me," Levy said as she was looking through a rather large book on the more rare animals, "eats rotten flesh, and doesn't die. Yep, those are undead goats, although there aren't any usually on this continent, or pegasi for that matter. That's very odd that they would have those."

"The whole place is just weird," Natsu said, "even the workers. I don't what they are, but they're definitely not human."

"Maybe they just have powers like us," Lisanna suggested, "didn't you say that the one lady used water magic on you?"

"Yeah, but hers isn't like Juvia's." Natsu said.

"What do you mean?" Erza asked.

"It's…I don't know, more holy?"

"…So she's religious?" Wendy asked shyly.

"No no no," Natsu shook his head before looking up at the ceiling in thought. He was never good with words. "It's more calm, that's for sure. When I feel Juvia's magic, I can feel all of her emotions. She's like the rain, or the ocean. But this lady, even though she was mad when she washed me down the road, her water was, lighter I guess? I felt like it wasn't only washing me, but my soul too."

The guild was quiet all through out Natsu's explanation, slightly impressed that he was even taking this much time thinking about something other than fighting or eating.

"Damn flame brain, I didn't know your vocabulary was this large." Gray smirked.

"What'd you say ice princess?!"


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: And here's the chapter we've all been waiting for! Let me know what you guys think! You guys have such a positive feedback to my story and it makes me so happy! I love hearing from you :) At the bottom of the chapter I'll be answering some of y'alls questions! By the way, don't feel shy to ask, I don't bite...Much :p

 **Chapter Four: A Fateful Encounter**

* * *

In the past two weeks, Natsu had worked with some of the strangest animals he had ever encountered. Besides the undead goats, there were the squealers. Massive pigs with a pair of lungs worse than a screaming two year old. Their squeals were loud enough to make a normal human faint after only hearing it for three seconds. These animals were kept in a completely sound proof barn with two sets of doors. One to get into the building itself, the other to get where the pigs were. Apparently the range of their cries can be heard from nearly a mile away and can knock a person to the ground from only seven hundred feet. He had to take extra precautions with them. First, he would put in a pair of ear plugs, then put on some headphones, and lastly, he wrapped his scarf around them for good measure. If they could do that to a normal person, he'd probably become permanently deaf due to his enhanced hearing.

Then there were those sheep that he saw the first day. Somehow they change the gravity underneath them in the instant that they jump, but only for a couple of seconds, which allows them to leap almost thirty feet into the air. Other than that, they were normal sheep, just little shit heads to round up in a pen.

His third favorite though, would have to be the geese.

Why?

Because they laid golden eggs.

 _Literally_.

And Natsu loved all things gold. He was the cliché dragon in all the human fairy tales, having a deep greed for anything gold and shiny. His hoard could testify to that.

He should probably feel bad for having taken at least a dozen so far, but he really couldn't be bothered.

Then there were the pyrotisserie, a name he so lovingly bestowed upon the chickens that spat fire. Natsu was told that the chicken coop was mostly made out of concrete, and the parts that weren't were coated with a fire resistant oil. They were so badass. With long claws that were basically serrated shark teeth and patches of scales covering their chests and the sides of their heads, these things were practically tiny mutant dragons. Their plumes ranged from all types of various bright colors, just like dragon scales. Natsu couldn't help but love the ugly little things. It was probably really cheesy, but he felt a connection to them. Almost as if they were family. Like third cousins.

A couple thousand years removed maybe…

But Capricorn hasn't let him work with them since they caught the back of the house on fire…

He got so distracted one day that he didn't realize that the chickens, and himself, had gotten too caught up spouting mini fireballs and had ran out of the pen entirely and to the house where their scorch marks are _still_ there.

Natsu liked the scorch marks though, he thought it gave the plain white house some character.

So today, he's supposed to be helping Taurus, Leo, and Scorpio round up the herd of cows into a separate pasture.

Easy enough, right?

...Probably not.

The bulls in this particular herd were something out of an old cartoon show.

It was an evasive maneuver that they did to avoid predators and to protect the young ones and their mothers. They could puff actual smoke out of their nostrils, and while it was totally kick ass, it made it _really_ hard to see anything that wasn't five feet in front of you.

Natsu still hadn't got quite used to working with the others yet, he was used to working by himself, or just Happy.

But he knew the he hadn't exactly been alone at all the past two weeks.

He didn't know who it was, but someone was watching him. He'd be working, and then suddenly he'd get that prickly feeling on the back of his neck, but every time he turned around, nobody was there.

He couldn't catch their scent either, which was what really bothered him. It meant they were cloaking themselves, and it made him uneasy.

So one day while he was feeding the devil goats again, and simultaneously trying to avoid that little fucker Lucifer, he felt the prickles and decided to play it cool. But after a bit of time had passed, enough for the person to get comfortable, Natsu quickly turned around and snarled in the direction of the woods he felt like the spy was lurking in.

He heard a gasp, and then a thud, followed by what sounded like a person scrambling on the ground to get up and run. Natsu didn't waste a second. He jumped over the fence and sprinted towards where he heard the mystery person, but when he came around a big tree, all he saw was a massive hole quickly close up from the ground.

He hasn't felt the prickles since, and that was five days ago.

"Natsu!" Leo called out. "Get your head out of the clouds and come on!"

Natsu quickly jogged over to the group, quietly grumbling all the while. The guys were off today, something was making them antsy. Every so often during the time they had been working one of them would glance around, as if they were looking for something… Or someone.

"Alright," Taurus started, "I'm gonna head in there first. Once I give the signal, the calves and their mothers will follow me and that's when I'll need you guys to moooove in."

Natsu had to hold back his snort, Taurus' way of speaking was too much sometimes.

"Leo and Scorpio, I want you two to get my flanks in the rear. By this time, I'm sure the bulls will have put out enough smoke to make it hard to see, so I'll need your help keeping the herd together." Both men nodded their heads in agreement.

Taurus turned to Natsu. "Natsu, I want you to stay in the back and make sure there aren't any stragglers. I'll need both you and Leo to use your magic to make enough light to see."

Natsu grinned and smacked his fist into his opened hand. "I'm all fired up!" He said enthusiastically.

Taurus gave him a nod, and then started jogging towards the gate of the pasture.

"Alright!" He shouted, "Let's get moooovin'!" With speed much faster than Natsu thought the brute of a man was capable of, Taurus bolted further into the pasture, and within a blink of an eye, he was out of sight.

There was just a few moments where the last three men were standing awaiting the signal before Taurus belted out a loud, continuous "moo" when Leo took off towards the left and Scorpio on the right in the same manner Taurus had. On foot.

At first Natsu though it was odd that they weren't using horses like he'd seen other ranches do in movies, but with how fast those three men could run, Natsu guessed that they really didn't need them.

Natsu mentally wrote down their speed in the list of things that he had in his mind that made these people different from humans. He'd seen all of their magical abilities in the times he's spent here. Natsu was magical himself, but he knew that there was something else about these people that didn't make sense, he was just having a hard time figuring out what it was.

Putting those thoughts aside for now, Natsu took off straight into the smoke screen that was continuously getting thicker.

Lucky for Natsu, this was his element of expertise. He lit his hands on fire and began a light jog throughout out the pasture, sniffing every few seconds to see if he smelled a stray.

Even though his eyesight was hazy due to the smoke, Natsu's hearing was sharp. He could hear Taurus calling out to the cows ahead, coaxing them into the pasture with fresh grass for them to eat. He could hear Leo and Scorpio's light breathing on either side of pasture. Making sure that the herd didn't split. He could even see Leo's light a ways in front of him glowing slightly.

Wait. Wasn't Leo supposed to be on the left side of the pasture?...

Natsu set his sights on the speck of light and began to advance towards it. He unlit his hands and sniffed the air for anything abnormal, but all he could smell was light.

Just light.

Curiosity was driving his legs to go faster, and so he did. He was getting closer now, he was nearly on top of it...

"Oof!" Natsu flailed his arms around as he fell over from colliding into something hard.

He grimaced as sat up and rubbed the back of his head, opening his eyes to look at the girl sitting on the ground across from him.

…A girl?

Natsu narrowed his eyes and looked over her carefully. She didn't _look_ suspicious. She was probably around the same age he was. She was wearing a simple outfit, a pair of ripped skinny jeans with a blue shirt and black converse. Her long, blonde hair was in a high ponytail, a few strands left out to frame her round face. And her chocolate brown eyes, they were large, and intuitive. Almost familiar…

Then it clicked. "Hey!" Natsu blurted a little louder than necessary, making the girl flinch. "You're the one who's been spyin' on me!"

She was looking at him wide-eyed, her mouth slightly open in shock. Her right arm was stretched across her chest so she could hold her left shoulder blade, which Natsu now realized was what was glowing.

"I-I'm sorry!" She stuttered, "I didn't mean to be so sneaky, I just…"

"Just what?" Natsu asked, "And why are you out here?"

The girl blinked a couple of times before simply replying, " I wanted some chocolate milk."

 _...This chick is such a weirdo,_ Natsu thought.

"Chocolate milk? Out here?" Natsu asked skeptically.

"Yeah," she replied, "Our cows make the best."

So she lives here, but how come he's never seen her?

"Wait, wait, wait. You're tellin' me that these cows _make_ chocolate milk?"

"Yep!" The girl smiled, "And strawberry too!"

"Huh, never heard of that before." Natsu mumbled.

The girl's brows furrowed before asking, "Do they not do that where you're from?"

"What do you mean weirdo? You live in Magnolia too, you should know! What, have ya never left the ranch before?" Natsu teased with a smirk.

The blonde opened her mouth to say something, but sighed and pulled her legs up to her chest and laid her head on her knees.

Natsu's eyes widened in shock. He was just joking, but he couldn't have been right…

Could he?

Natsu was about to apologize when the girl jerked her head up, eyes wide in fear.

"Oh no," she breathed out before she squeezed her eyes shut in pain, and fell back against the ground to curl in on herself. Her shoulder was glowing brighter now, the light was starting to cover the left side of her neck and down her back.

"H-Hey!" Natsu called out, quickly getting up and rushing over to kneel down next her. "What's wr-" He started to ask, but at that moment, whatever barrier the girl had to conceal herself broke, and Natsu was flooded with the smell of starlight and strawberries and the underlying scent that was just _her_ and dear _god_ did she smell heavenly.

"You need to g-get out of here." She said between gritted teeth. Her eyes opened to look up at him apologetically, fresh tears beginning to trail down her face. " _Now._ "

"I'm not leaving you." Natsu said stubbornly, reaching down to scoop her up into his arms. Her magical levels were increasing too quickly, he needed to get her help, and fast.

She gripped his scarf tightly in her hands, "Please," she said softly, a slight sob escaping her, "I don't want to hurt you."

She looked so broken at that moment. Regret and guilt swimming in her eyes, her hands shaking in pain.

"Ya know, where I'm from," Natsu began as he started to jog across the pasture, the girl securely held in his arms, " we never leave anybody behind. Fairy Tail takes care of each other. So I'm not gonna abandon you."

He bent his head down to look at her, but she was already staring at him. Her eyes were wide with wonder. Natsu was a bit taken back, he'd certainly never had anyone look at him like _that_ before.

He gave her bright grin, but then hissed in pain and had to keep himself from dropping her. Whatever was happening to her shoulder that he was holding in his left arm was making his arm sting terribly.

Being a fire dragon had many perks, but one of the best was that Natsu couldn't be burned. He wondered if this is what it would feel like.

"Yo, Natsu!" He heard Leo call out to him as he, Scorpio, and Taurus were approaching them quickly, "why are you raising your mag- _Lucy_?!"

All three of the men increased the strides until they were right in front them. Leo immediately reached out and took the girl, Lucy, from Natsu's arms.

"L-Loke," She breathed out hoarsely, "I'm-"

"Sshh," Leo quieted her gently, " we'll talk later princess, right now we need to get you inside."

Leo turned and started racing towards the barn, the other men following closely behind, Natsu included.

Scorpio noticed where they were headed, and it wasn't the house like he thought it would be. "The barn? Seriously Leo?"

"We won't make it to the house in time." Leo shouted over his shoulder. And he was right, the light was so bright now that it looked it was covering Leo as well. Lucy was trying her best to not cry out, but the pain was starting to become unbearable.

Taurus charged ahead of the group to make it to the doors first so he could open them for Leo.

Natsu was about to go in as well when Scorpio turned around and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"You stay out here," he said firmly. "You don't need to see this."

"I can-"

"You can do what?" Scorpio snapped bitterly. "You don't know her. You don't know what she's going through. So just stay out here, and out of the way. We'll talk later." And with that, Scorpio ran inside the barn and shut the doors, leaving a confused and pissed off Natsu outside.

He couldn't just leave though, he promised Lucy he wouldn't abandon her. With his mind made up, Natsu ran to the back of the barn where he scaled the side of wall and up to the little window. He peeked his head over to see something that he'd never forget for the rest of his life.

Leo had laid Lucy on the ground where she was chained by her hands, feet, and torso. She was thrashing too much from the pain, they had to restrain her. Virgo was in there now, seemingly come up from one of her tunnels. Natsu thought she was a strange woman, but he liked her well enough. Her eyes were always unblinking, appearing to be emotionless, but right now they were pulled together in worry.

She was on her knees behind Lucy's head, running her fingers through her hair trying to comfort her.

Leo was at Lucy's side with his hands glowing, hovering over her. Scorpio and Taurus were standing to the side with their arms crossed, looking over the situation with somber faces.

But Natsu could only look at them for a moment, his focus was on Lucy. She was crying openly now, the light was getting so bright that Natsu had to squint to see, but even then it wasn't clear.

"Loke," she sobbed, "Loke, it hurts!"

"I know princess," Loke said calmly, despite his shaky hands and the sweat running down his face. "It's almost over."

But Lucy was not appeased by his soothing words. Her screams of pain only became louder, until the whole barn was filled with such a bright light that Natsu had to jump down from the window to cover his eyes.

When he opened them, the light was gone, and it was completely quiet. He ran around the front of the barn only to stop in his tracks when he saw Leo walking through the doors with an unconscious Lucy lying limp in his arms, both with burned and tattered clothes.

Natsu looked inside of the barn to see burn marks on the wooden posts and walls, some of them still smoking. Scorpio and Taurus followed Leo and Lucy to the stairs of the mansion where a furious Aquarius burst through the front doors, shouting at the men to quit dragging their asses and bring her inside already.

"Master Natsu," the young man flinched at her choice of words, yet turned around to look at the pink haired maid. Her clothes were burned as well, including her hands and different parts of her arms, but they appeared to be healing already.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to have to ask you to not speak of what happened today to anyone. Or else you will be punished." Her eyes shined at the end of her statement for a moment before they were back to looking hollow like they usually do.

"Why?" Natsu asked confused, "she needs help! I know a couple people who could-"

"Master Natsu," Virgo interjected, "I'm glad you are concerned for her well being, but you do not need to worry. We've been helping princess deal with these type of...situations, all her life. We know better than anyone one else on how to care for her.

"But with that being said, I'm afraid I have to tell you to forget about her, completely."

Natsu snapped his head up to look at her.

"What?!"

"This wasn't supposed to happen, Lucy never should have been outside of the mansion. You two never should have met."

"But I-!" Natsu tried to protest, but Virgo raised her hand to silence him. She slowly shook her head, and then walked away without another word, leaving Natsu to think about all these weird, and confusing things scattered in his mind.

But there was only one thing he could really focus on.

... _Lucy._

* * *

 _I've had a few already ask about Lucy's "curses" and I don't want to spoil too much because it WILL be revealed in later chapters what's going on, but she, as of right now, has little to no control over her powers. Some of you are so close on guessing! I'd love to hear your theories :D_


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Holy pickles I'm sorry this took so long everyone. With college starting, my brother nearly dying, and some totally ridiculous family stuff going on I have had barely any time to write, let alone breath -_-

But I am pretty proud of this chapter! And I hope you guys like what you find out ;P

Creds to bae (a.k.a not-just-any-fangirl, a.k.a. my writing goddess) for helping me edit this monster. I appreciate you.

* * *

Natsu walked through the guild doors in a daze, robotically heading to his spot at the bar, completely oblivious to Gray's insults and the other comical jabs his other guild mates were throwing at him. As much as he tried, which honestly wasn't that much, he couldn't get today's events out of his head.

More specifically, he couldn't get _Lucy_ out of his head.

Natsu sat down at his seat and montonely asked Mira for his usual pepper jack chicken, with extra peppers. Mira looked at Natsu worriedly, as he usually started a fight as soon as he entered.

"Natsu," Mira called out gently, setting his plate of food in front of him, "is everything alright?" But he didn't answer,rubbing his forearm distractedly while he stared at his food like some immense unsolved puzzle.

A hard hand on his shoulder finally startled him out of his deep thoughts, making him whip his head around to growl at whoever had interrupted him from his rare serious moment.

To Natsu's pleasant surprise, it was Gildarts, looking as massive and intimidating as he always had with his incredible height and broad chest. He was one brute of a man, but Natsu knew he was really just a softy. He'd been gone for the past six months on an eight year mission, but Gildarts never took the actual time that was said to be needed, usually cutting it by more than half.

Did he just get in and Natsu missed it? No, he couldn't have. Gildarts scent was extremely noticeable; the smell of destruction coupled with a massive thunderstorm was unique only to him. Even Laxus smelled completely different, his being more flashy, like lightening.

So how did he miss him? Were his thoughts really distracting him that much?

"Natsu you brat, I've been gone for six months and you walk right past me. Is that how you treat your old man?" Gildarts said loudly with a large smile, but Natsu could see the question in his eyes. He'd noticed his odd behavior.

With a bright grin, Natsu stood up so he could give his father figure a hug, which Gildarts gladly reciprocated, roughly patting him on the back.

"Did you just get back?" Natsu asked when they finally pulled away from each other. After he had tried, and failed, to put him in a choke hold.

"About an hour or so ago yeah," Gildarts replied with a shrug of his shoulders. A teasing smirk turned up on his lips as he slung an arm around the boy's shoulders.

"So I've heard you've been able to hold down a job! Looks like yer finally becomin' a man!" He said laughing, a sly gleam in his eyes.

"Whaddya mean 'finally'?" Natsu shouted indignantly, but his grin was still there as he ducked under the man's arm. "I became a man when I kicked your ass last year when we fought at Tenrou!"

Gray scoffed. "You didn't kick his ass flame head. You both tumbled into the river where you ended up on top of him when you rolled onto shore."

"Ya wanna say that again ice tits?!" Natsu challenged as he whirled around to charge at the raven haired man.

But before Natsu could put his hands around that scrawny bastard's neck, a firm grip on his left arm had him stopping in his place, yelping in pain. He was about to yell at whoever it was to let go, but when he turned around, Erza was holding up his arm, looking at him expectantly. Her hard stare told Natsu that he was not getting out of this one.

Natsu gulped nervously. What could he say?! He wasn't a very good liar, so Erza would know immediately if he wasn't telling the truth. But he couldn't tell her what actually happened. If Virgo and the others found out, he'd never get to see Lucy again. And Natsu definitely wasn't going to let that happen.

It looked like Erza wasn't going to give him time to come up with an answer. Her grip tightened and she pulled Natsu forward so she could examine his arm more closely.

"Natsu, what's this?" She asked, pointing to the constellation that had been branded onto the underside of his forearm. It had already begun to scar white, shimmering in the light when Erza tilted his arm slightly. The area around it was still red from irritation, almost like it was a tattoo…

That's it!

"Um, it's a tattoo!" Natsu said a little too loudly, "yeah, I just got it today!"

Jellal walked over then from his spot against the wall, inspecting the so called tattoo for himself. "Why did you pick the constellation of Andromeda ?"

"I uh, thought it looked cool?" Natsu said sheepishly.

"Nice try Salamander, I can smell the magic traces left behind on that brand, it ain't no tattoo, so what really happened?" Gajeel asked, his eyes scrutinizing Natsu's face carefully, reading his expressions.

"Were you attacked?" Wendy asked worriedly, having come over to join the group of people surrounding him.

Natsu sighed in defeat, he wouldn't be able to make up something, but could he tell them...

"No Wen, I wasn't attacked, and no it's not a tattoo. But," Natsu hurriedly said before Erza could question him, "I can't tell ya what it is, cus I don't know. So stop asking." He looked pointedly at Gray then, who had opened his mouth to retort.

He shook his arm out of Erza's grip, and started walking towards the guild doors, leaving his plate of food behind.

"Natsu," Gildarts said sternly, grabbing him by the shoulder with Natsu's back turned to him.

"Gildarts," Natsu muttered lowly, turning his head to look at him with one burning eye, "let go."

A long moment passed where both men just stood and stared at each other, neither backing down. The guild members watched quietly, none daring to break the tense feeling in the air.

"Natsu…" Happy quietly whined from where he was sitting on the counter next to Carla.

Natsu had made up his mind though, he wasn't going to tell anyone anything. Even Gildarts.

And they couldn't make him.

He slowly started to increase his magic, steam rising from his body as a result. Gildarts raised an eyebrow in response. He'd never seen Natsu so serious about something before. The older man could see it in his fiery eyes, the firm set of his brow. He could feel it in the rigidness of his shoulders, the tensing of his muscles. It all showed such strength and...maturity from the pink haired boy. Or rather man as Gildarts would say now. He knew he wasn't going to get anything out of Natsu, and so he did the only thing he could. He let him go.

Natsu briskly walked out the guild doors, a trail of sizzling footprints left behind him on the guilds wooden floors.

Everyone was quiet, until all at once people started to whisper amongst themselves.

Makarov had been watching everything up on the second floor, and just like everyone else, he was uneasy. Natsu was always very talkative about his jobs, so his secrecy made him worry.

"Happy," he called down to the blue exceed, who had been staring at the doors his partner walked through. The blue cat flew up the winding staircase to stand in front of the short, balding man.

"Yes, Master?"

"From now on, I want you to accompany Natsu to his job. You may ask him first, but if he refuses, I want you to follow him in secret. If it comes to that, I want you to remain hidden. You mustn't let him know that you're there, am I understood?"

"Yes, Master," Happy said with a nod of his head. "But what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to see for yourself what you think of this 'ranch', and what the people are like. Then, after every day, I want you to come back to me and tell me what happened that day. I don't care how minute the details might be, I still want to know all of it."

"Aye sir!" Happy declared with an air fist pump. "I'll make sure Natsu is staying safe!"

The little blue cat then sprouted his fluttery white wings and took off through one of the open windows to find his pink haired partner.

"Master," Erza greeted as she, Jellal, Gray, and Wendy all walked up the stairs to speak with him, "why not have one of us go instead? I don't know if Happy will take the task you've given him seriously."

"Don't worry," Makarov dismissed with a wave of his hand, "he'll do fine. If the situation proves to be more troublesome, I'll send one of you, but for now, I'll leave it to Happy."

Erza looked at Jellal, doubt and worry written plainly on her face. He reached his hand out to twine their fingers together and give them a light squeeze. She was worried about Natsu, but she trusted Makarov, and would follow through with whatever decision he makes.

She just hoped that Natsu wasn't getting himself into too much trouble...

* * *

A burning pain in her shoulder finally woke Lucy from her restless slumber.

She looked around confused, until she realized that she was in her room, laying down in her bed with a new set of clothes on and a bandage wrapped around her left shoulder and upper chest.

She tried to sit up, but she hissed in pain as the burning increased to feeling like a dozen needles were pricking her shoulder blade.

Laying back down, she focused on trying to remember what happened. She remembered going out to the pasture to get some some fresh chocolate milk, since there was none left in the fridge, but then the cows started to become restless and the bulls began to blow out a screen of smoke. Which meant that something was approaching the herd, something potentially dangerous.

She became nervous and afraid, not knowing that it was only Loke and the others, so her body began to raise her magic in defense, which was exactly what she _didn't_ need. The pain in her left shoulder blade that had been throbbing all week spiked, and she hurriedly got up to run to the house. But then…

That man, with the vibrant pink hair. Who was he? A worker? That sounded right, her father did say he was hiring somebody new.

He had found her, and despite her being a stranger and putting him in danger, he had willingly helped her. Lucy's chest warmed at the thought. She'd have to thank him when she saw him again. Whenever that would be.

Once again, she attempted to sit up, gritting her teeth from the pain but making it nonetheless.

Just then, her door opened, and in walked Virgo and Aquarius, talking in hushed tones. Their eyes finally settled on Lucy who was by now sitting up on the edge of her bed.

"Well look who finally decided to come back to the land of the living," Aquarius said with a sneer, "I thought you'd never wake up you lazy ass."

Ignoring that last remark, Lucy tenderly rubbed her left shoulder, "How long was I out?" She asked, her voice rough and scratchy from screaming.

"Just for a few hours," Virgo replied smoothly as she walked over to inspect Lucy's bandages. Lucy held her breath as Virgo lifted her arm so that she could tighten the wrap.

"So who'd I get this time?" Lucy asked sarcastically.

Aquarius walked over to examine the mark, and Virgo halted her ministrations to look as well.

"Tch," Aquarius scoffed, "I don't why, but you got Andromeda this time brat."

"S-seriously?" Lucy sputtered, trying to peer over her shoulder to look at the addition to the several constellations that were scattered across her back and other various parts of her body.

"Indeed it is princess," Virgo confirmed, "this is a good sign. You might be able to make some progress with controlling your magic levels now that you have obtained her mark."

Hope began to rise in Lucy's chest, she had only received small constellations before, such as ursa minor. Other than of course the ten zodiacs that she got when she was born. Did this mean should would be getting more powerful ones now?

"You really think so?" Lucy asked excitedly. But then her enthusiasm shattered as she remembered the pain she had received, stronger than anything she had felt before.

"Wait," she asked hesitantly, "is it gonna hurt more like it did this time whenever I get a more powerful one?"

Aquarius laughed hard from where she stood, "Better get used to it girl, looks like you've run out of all the minor constellations, so now you're gonna start getting the big ones."

Lucy whined and slumped her shoulders. Great, just great. Not only did she have to deal with her sporadic powers, now she has to handle more pain. And it looks like it'll be more frequently as well.

A smack to the back of her head had Lucy clutching her head in pain and pouting up at Aquarius who was looking at her with her eyes narrowed, disdain practically oozing out of her.

"What the hell was that for?" Lucy hissed as she rubbed the back of her head gently.

"Quit your whining," Aquarius barked at her, "you complain about not being able to control your powers, and now that it looks like we might have gotten a breakthrough you're upset because you'll have to deal with a bit more pain."

"A bit? I can barely even remember what happened before that episode because it was so painful. I even passed out!" Lucy shouted at her angrily.

"Really?" Aquarius asked, her arms crossed and one brow raised in disbelief. "You can't remember a single thing?"

Lucy opened her mouth to tell her exactly what happened, but the image of the smiling young man flashed in her mind, and she had this feeling that she shouldn't say anything about him.

"I..I remember running through the pasture," she said, her brain scrambling trying to come up with something, "and then I guess I passed out? Because the next thing I remember is being in the barn with Loke and Virgo."

Virgo and Aquarius shared a look before Virgo continued to adjust her wrap. "You're right princess," she said, "Big Brother, Taurus, and Scorpio found you nearly passed out in the pasture and didn't have enough time to make it to the house so they brought you to the barn."

Lucy nodded her head, happy to see that they seemed to believe her. "Okay, I see."

"Good," Aquarius said, "now get up, your new training starts today."

"Training?" Lucy asked surprised. "But I already had my sessions last week."

"Well that's all gonna change deary," Aquarius said with a mock smile. "From now on," she started as she turned and started walking out the door, Lucy and Virgo following behind her, "you'll be practicing with one of us every two days. One day to train, the other day to rest."

"You're joking right?" Lucy asked with wide eyes. "I've never been able to keep my magic going consistently enough to practice that often!"

"Get used to it," was the only reply she got.

When they made it outside, Lucy walked towards Taurus who was standing at the head of the trail that lead through the forest waiting for her. Aquarius and Virgo stayed behind, watching her go.

"Do you think she really doesn't remember him?" Aquarius asked Virgo, still staring at the dense forest.

"I am not sure," she replied honestly, "she seemed to be honest. The disorientation she felt is normal for her after she has an episode. Maybe she'll remember him later."

"Let's hope she doesn't," Aquarius said bitterly, "I really don't want to make her forget anymore than I've already had to."

"Yes, I do not like hiding things from the princess."

Aquarius grunted in agreement. The feeling of guilt she always kept buried churned within her chest.

If Lucy ever found out what they were keeping from her, Aquarius wasn't sure how well that would end. For anyone.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** _hiya! a month late on the update, sorry bout that! but I think y'all'll like this chapter! Be sure to read it carefully! I saw in reviews that some of y'all were confused as to how Natsu got the constellation branded on his forearm. All I gotta say is go back and read the previous chapter, I promise it's there!_

 _I am LOVIN y'all's sweet reviews though! And your theories! Keep em comin'! Let me know what y'all think :)_

 **Chapter Six: When There's a Will, There's a Way**

* * *

Lucy followed Taurus down the narrow trail through the forest, the sounds of dirt crunching beneath their feet filling the silence between them. They took this same path every time they went to train, but Taurus was always wary. In this forest, the deeper you ventured the larger, and more exotic, everything became. Animals and plants included. The trees were thick, going from a mere ten feet around to over thirty. Colorful mushrooms that grew on the trunks serviced as lanterns with their eerie glow had started to become big enough for someone to sleep on.

Lucy had many times before.

The branches were full of leaves at least a hundred feet above them, making a vast canopy that covered the whole area, green light filtering through the cracks. The herd of deer that would occasionally prance by became even fewer in number, and in turn became larger the further they walked. The one slowly walking in front of them now was as large as a one story house, its antlers blooming little white daisies, vines curling around the rest of the bone. Its pelt was a dark brown, like moist soil, but lightening up around its underbelly and muzzle. It would be easy for something to attack them from any position, past events could testify to that, but even so, everyone was always overprotective with Lucy.

They continued for about an hour until one step they were in the dense brush and the next they were in an open, round clearing where the light nearly blinded her eyes with its intensity. Lucy and Taurus had cleared this part of the forest bare themselves to sparr, save a pile of tree stumps on the side.

"Alright Miss Luuucy," Taurus drawled, "how about we practice that one move we've been trying to wrangle down the past few months?"

"You mean the one with the axe? Really Taurus?" Lucy whined. "Can't we just work on the whip?"

"You've basically mastered that one already Lucy and you know it," Taurus teased her, "you need more of a challenge! Besides, with that new mark, I bet you'll have nooo problems now!"

Lucy let out a long sigh, but relented, and planted her feet in the ground and relaxed her hands.

"There ya go Lucy," Taurus encouraged her, his voice now echoing from the edge of the clearing he had sped over to, "now do what we've practiced. Reach deep within yourself for your magic, then grab onto that part that is specific to our bond."

Lucy's curse was a fickle thing. It generally stayed dormant, reacting only when her adrenaline spiked, or if she felt she was even the slightest bit in danger. Only rarely did it ever come out when she called it. While it was one whole entity, it had several parts that branched from it. These sub-branches of her magic ranged from ferocious brute strength to the controlling of certain elements, such as water and earth. When these sub-branches manifested themselves when she was younger, she had no control over them. Once, what was supposed to be a gentle handshake with one of her father's clients ended up becoming an emergency trip to the hospital where the man left with all the bones in his hand shattered. Jude had to bribe the man with a hefty sum of money to keep him quiet.

Her father no longer brought anyone to the mansion after that.

What was the final straw for Jude was when she flooded all three floors of the mansion while she was taking a bath upstairs in her parents master bathroom. Luckily, her mother hadn't been moved to the bottom floor yet, despite the doctor's recommendations. Jude had given Lucy the lecture of her life that day, and Lucy no longer came up to visit her mother every day like she used to. She felt too guilty for putting her life in more danger than it already was, and didn't want to risk doing it again. Her father was even more distant after that. He was either always in his room with Layla or he would leave for weeks at a time.

Unfortunately, Lucy's powers only became more spontaneous. Until one day, her father brought a group of people to the mansion for the first time in two years. Each of the ten individuals had a similar curse as Lucy, and her father hired them to work on the ranch while they helped Lucy control her powers. Even though she saw them every day, her father commanded that she was not to talk to them at all unless it was time for one of her lessons. But when Jude would leave, her mother had no qualms about Lucy talking with the workers, in fact she encouraged it. They were all very kind to her mother, treating her as if she were an old friend and showed her great respect.

And when Laylay died, they were there for Lucy, while her father had disappeared for three months, not even bothering to leave a note.

Through the years, Lucy's powers only grew, including the number of constellations that adorned her body. With nearly each new constellation Lucy would gain a new ability, as well as a new teacher. She never questioned where her father found these people, she was only grateful for the help.

But even though the mansion had never homed so many people, Lucy had never felt more alone.

Lucy shook her head to focus on finding her magic. This would require her full concentration, she could think about everything else later.

Reaching deep within herself, Lucy felt the warmth of her magic. It was calm, and pleasant, seeping through all of her limbs down to her fingertips and all the way up to the top of her head. She could understand how her father could call what she had curses with all the destruction they could cause, but right now, with the way she could feel it brushing under hands like a kitten and the excitement that was bubbling in her chest, she couldn't see it that way. It was as if her magic was _happy_ that she had released it.

Now for the tricky part. While releasing her magic was still difficult, it was nothing compared to finding one of its specific sub-parts and holding onto it. Nevertheless, Lucy dug further within her magic until she found the brute strength that was specific to her and Taurus, and released it.

Lucy was breathing heavily by the time her magic had spread throughout her whole body. She opened her eyes and looked down to see the familiar pair of one-legged pants adorning her lower torso and the cow printed bikini top covering her breasts. Arm braces and fingerless gloves encased both of her arms and hands while her hair was set up into two buns, a couple thick strands framing her face.

Her whip was secured to her hip, but she wouldn't be using it today.

She would be using Amhras, her battle curve of the blade was nearly as long as she was tall. Beautiful carvings of leaves and flowers adorned the edge of the silver blade as if they were floating on a breeze. The steel rod that the blade was in embedded in shined a beautiful ebony. Etched above the leather grip at the base, the zodiac symbol of Taurus shined a bright blood red.

Taurus believed that if Lucy were to ever be in full control of her magic, she'd have to quit doubting herself, and become familiar with it, as if it were an old friend. So he recommended that she name the weapon. At first Lucy thought it was weird, since she never considered the weapon being alive, but one day, Taurus had decided to blindfold Lucy while they sparred to get her to trust her instincts. She was doing well in the beginning with just her whip against Taurus' fists, but once he brought up his own weapon, Lucy began to doubt herself. In that instant, her axe appeared in her hands, parrying against Taurus' low swipe to her feet.

She didn't think "doubts" would necessarily be a good name for a weapon, so she chose Amhras. The massive battle axe always appeared whenever Lucy thought her abilities weren't enough, and even when she was able to summon the weapon on her own, it never fully obeyed her commands because she didn't trust in her abilities to use it properly.

Taking up her stance, Lucy spread her feet far apart and then bent her knees, holding Amhras like a bat. With both hands she brought the axe behind her for the swing, but she released it with her right hand, putting most of her strength in that single appendage to send it spiraling forward.

With her hand still outstretched, Lucy beckoned the axe back to her. Sweat was pouring down her face now, her knees shaking so bad they were nearly knocking against each other. Her hand trembling with the strain on her energy, yet Amhras was _still_ flying forward. She really hoped it wouldn't keep going and demolish nearly a third of this part of the forest like it did last time. It took her three hours to find it deep within a massive cave it had blown into the side of the mountain. Although now that cave was one of her favorite secret places.

Right before Amhras reached the tree line he froze mid air, hovering until he began to spin in place before shooting back towards Lucy.

"Hell yeah Miss Lucy!" praised Taurus, giving her his signature wide, white smile. From where she was panting in the center of the clearing, Lucy could see the pride nearly glowing in his eyes.

She set her gaze back towards her weapon that was rapidly approaching. A sliver of fear and self doubt seeped into Lucy's chest, overshadowing the joy she felt on finally succeeding. She'd never made it this far before.

Would she be able to catch Amhras with how fast he was moving?

What if she grabbed the blade instead of the rod and cut off her hands?

Was she even strong enough to grab him out of the air?

Time moved slowly, allowing all of these doubts to slither into her mind. Amhras was much closer now, maybe a hundred feet away. She thought she could hear Taurus yelling for her in the distance, but her heart was beating so loud in her ears it was drowning everything else out.

To her left she suddenly felt a large presence, and the next second she was pinned to the ground by a set of large white paws nearly the size of her head.

"Plue," she breathed, looking into the deep blue eyes of her faithful companion. He gave a small whine, dipping his massive head to nuzzle the side of her face. She reached her arms up to wrap around his neck, gripping his thick snow white fur to keep herself upright.

She nearly fell when Plue darted swiftly to the side, narrowly avoiding the axe as it had circled back around to them.

"Lucy you have to grab Amhras!" Taurus shouted to her.

"Are you crazy?! He'll split me like a banana!"

"He won't stop unless _you_ stop him." His point was proven when not a moment later Plue pinned Lucy to the ground _again_ to avoid Amhras cutting their heads off. "He's simply following your orders: you summoned him, and now he's just trying to return to you."

"Taurus," Lucy panted, her arms shaking where they were wrapped around Plue's neck, " I don't think I can. I'm not strong enough."

" _Lucy,"_ Taurus was using their mental link now to talk to her telepathically, his voice low and soothing as he tried to calm her nerves, " _this is_ your _magic. Amhras is_ your _weapon. You_ are _strong enough, you always have been. Your mother never doubted that you'd be able to control your magic, and neither_ _do any of us. You just have to take what's been yours all along."_

Lucy yelped as Plue, as gently as he could, quickly picked her up with his jaws and leaped out of the way of Amhras swooping down to where they were ducking on the ground. Taurus was right, she _knew_ he was right, so why was she still doubting herself?

Because failure was all she'd ever known.

 _Just because you failed today, doesn't mean that you will tomorrow. Failure is only certain when you've already given up in your mind. You're only as strong as you want to be Lucy. If you think that you won't succeed before you even try, then failure is guaranteed. Believe in yourself, in your own abilities, and that will be the light that guides you._

With her newfound strength from her mother's words, Lucy let go of her hold on Plue and took a few wobbly, but still confident, steps forward to face Amhras as he was fast approaching. Her breaths were heavy and labored, her body sore and throbbing from it's extensive use of its hold on her magic. But she couldn't let go now, she _wouldn't_. She had to do this.

Lucy straightened her posture and squatted in a ready stance. She focused on her strength, and listened to the low hum of Amhras spinning in the air, flying straight towards her.

Her face hard with determination, Lucy summoned as much magic as she could into the soles of her feet to ground her and in the palm of her hands. Side stepping the downswing of the blade Lucy firmly grabbed the leather girth of her weapon with both hands. Her pulse was hammering in her ears, her magic surging throughout her whole body on a level she had never felt before. In this single moment, she felt powerful. She felt in _control_.

Letting the momentum and weight of the axe swing her around full circle, Lucy channeled all of her remaining strength into her hold on Amhras. With a mighty shout, she swung him as hard as she could, embedding the blade deep into the ground.

What she wasn't expecting however was the massive explosion that followed.

The magic Lucy had summoned to keep her hold on Amhras had flowed through her grip down to the very edge of the blade. And the second it had pierced through the earth, the magic released, sending a powerful shockwave that all at once caused a massive split in the ground and sent cracked rock flying.

Including Lucy and Plue.

"Lucy!" Taurus bellowed from where he had been blown back further into the forest by the sheer force of the blast. Scrambling up, he bolted back into the ruined clearing. A heavy layer of dust covered the area, scratching his lungs as he breathed and making his vision hazy. Large boulders of rock and chunks of earth and even trees were piled on top of each other where they had fallen from their blast into the air.

He tried not to panic as he surveyed the damage, his gaze darting back and forth for white and blonde as he dashed through the meadow.

Finally, he heard a small whine to his right. Hurrying over to the pile of rubble, Taurus carefully removed each piece of debris until he could see a mass of dirty white fur.

"C'mon, c'mon," he grumbled as he pushed the remaining boulder from the massive white dogs head. "Hey buddy, ya doin' okay?" Another quiet whine was his response, a big blue eye blearily blinking up at him. "I know bud. I'm gonna get you out, do you think you can pick up Lucy's scent? I can't pinpoint where she is since her magic traces are everywhere."

Plue snorted as he slowly raised himself onto his legs to reveal the girl in question lying on her side underneath him with Amhras held tightly in her hands.

"Sweet baby Jesus," Taurus sighed in relief, patting the dog spirit on the head. "Good boy Plue, good boy."

Lucy coughed as she tilted her head to look up at Taurus and gave him a pained, but joyful smile. "I did it," she said, her voice rough from inhaling the dust, "I actually did it."

"Told you ya could, didn't I?" Taurus chuckled. "C'mere peaches," he said as he reached for her from where Plue had her carefully lifted her up in his mouth, "I think that's enough for today."

The blonde gave a tired nod as she released her battle axe so that she could curl more comfortably into Taurus' chest, letting it decipitate into a puff of sparkles along with her outfit to reveal her tattered clothes underneath, but not before giving it her thanks.

"What was that last part Taurus?" Lucy asked quietly. Her eyes were heavy with exhaustion. Sleep was imminent she knew, but she had to ask first. "It felt different from the other times I've used my magic."

"That's because it was different," Taurus confirmed. He was walking now through the forest, Plue limping behind him right on his heels. His ears flicking flicking at the slightest noise, his eyes searching the forest on high alert. "You unconsciously transferred your magic into Amhras and he released it when you struck him into the ground. It's actually a very high level move. I definitely wasn't expecting you to do it."

"Me neither," the blonde mumbled. Her eyes were nearly completely close now, she could feel her body begging for her to let it rest, but she had one more question. "Where's Plue? Is he alright?"

A puff of breath above her head and then a wet nose rubbing against her cheek was her answer. "Hey Plue," Lucy greeted gently, reaching her arm around to gently rub his cheek. "I'm really sorry. How about you hop up here with me and take a nap."

Not a second later Plue shrunk with a 'poof!' and floated over into Lucy's arms to snuggle against her chest.

Together, they drifted off into a heavy slumber in the protection of Taurus' sturdy embrace. But as much as Taurus and the others wanted to, they could never protect Lucy from what endangers her the most.

Herself.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** _Heyo! I'm finally back with another update! I kept going back and forth on how I wanted the story to go, and so far Happy is the hardest character I've written, which is why this chapter took so long…_

 _Let me know what y'all think! Your past reviews were simply the sweetest and I love all of your theories and ideas!_

 _Also question. I know that I change the pov just about every chapter and I want to know if that bothers any of you. It's just been an easy way for me to write this story, but if you guys really would prefer just one, to make it easier or whatever, let me know and I'll try my hardest!_

 _Thanks again for the kind reviews and not-just-any-fangirl for being the best beta around!_

 **Chapter Seven: Curiosity Killed the Cat?**

* * *

That was too close. He was sure he had been found out that time, but holding back a sneeze was impossible for the small cat. Happy was certain it was for everyone else too. Even though Wendy always tried her hardest to hold them in, she never succeeded in keeping away the gusts of blistering wind that would escape every time she sneezed. Her scrunchy face never failed to make him and Natsu laugh. Before they were blown across the guild of course.

He looked over his shoulder, checking his left and right side for the third time before darting behind the closest tree and scampering up into the coverage of the branches.

Happy had been keeping a close eye on Natsu just like Master had asked him to for the past week and a half, and he could agree with his best friend that this place was definitely…weird.

There was a scent in the air that was constantly tickling his nose and he just couldn't get away from it no matter where he went. Although the scent of those workers was definitely not anything quite like he'd smelled before, it wasn't the inhabitants per say, or even anything that lived or grew there. Fiore was no stranger to any of the wildlife or vegetation that he'd seen on the Celestial Plains, but it was as Levy had pointed out before; many of these creatures were found half way across the country in completely different environments. Even some of the greenery. For so many to be in one place, somewhere that constantly stays the same…

It was downright unnatural.

And so was Natu's odd behaviour.

No one, absolutely no one, knew the pink-headed male better than his blue feline friend. He had noticed his quiet spirit, how he'd look up from his work about every five minutes to stare solemnly at the mansion, and Happy thought it was about time he figured out what was so interesting about a big, white house that had way too many windows to be practical. He checked his surroundings one last time, his eyes lingering on Natsu's retreating form before deeming it safe to sprout his wings, flapping them a few times to stretch out his white feathers before making a quick leap to the closest window on the second floor. Luckily for Happy, there were latches on the outside of the windows so that they could open inwards, like doors. But unfortunately for Happy, they were locked.

 _These people are definitely weird_ , Happy thought. Who has locks on their windows? And even then, why from the outside? Happy didn't think that was too smart. They couldn't unlock them like this. It seemed as if they were making it impossible for someone to get in.

…or get out.

But Happy was nothing if not determined. He was a cat after all. And cats are clever.

Extending a sharpened claw from his paw, Happy inserted it into the lock and twisted it around until he heard the satisfying clink! that signaled his success. He looked behind him one last time before slowly opening the window and hopping inside, scurrying over to hide behind the potted plant in the corner.

He slowly peeked his head out, only to gape in disbelief.

How many rooms does this house have?!

Just looking down the extensive hallway Happy could see he counted thirteen, no, _fourteen_ doors. The white walls were bare, save the few ornamental pictures of scenery between every set of doors.

Happy found it odd that he didn't see any family photos. Not a single one.

Quietly tip-toeing across the black and white tiled floor to the corner, he looked down the hallway on his right, only to see another dozen. He couldn't look through all these! That's way too many for just one cat to handle. He didn't even know where to start! But something in this house had Natsu's attention, and Happy highly doubted it was food, so it was his responsibility as best friend to find out what.

He quickly bounded up to the nearest door and stretched on his hind legs to reach the handle, only for it to be locked. He dismissed it as unimportant, and went to the next one, only for it to be locked as well. These people sure must like their privacy, Happy thought, or they have a lot of secrets. If this was the case for all the doors, Happy didn't think he'd have enough time to unlock all of them without being found out. So using his supreme cat skills, he went to each doorway and sat. And he stared.

And he listened.

And listened. He listened and smelled for anything weird or out of the ordinary. He was having no luck until he reached his eighth door, at the very end of the hall. It had a different lock from all the others, which Happy thought was a curious thing. It was much bigger, and more fancy with swirls etched into the golden metal. He sat still, and really concentrated. He was just about to go to the next one when he heard a faint humming sound. Listening harder, Happy thought it sounded like someone was singing.

Curiosity peeked, he reached up to the handle, assuming it was locked, but was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't. He opened the door just a few inches and squeezed through the tight space, dashing to run under the large pastel-pink bed he first saw in the back left corner. He peeped his head out from under the draping blankets to see a, not white room like he was expecting. On three of the walls, a mountain range was painted with different shades of lavender, tan, and black with each row appearing smaller the higher you looked up to give it a sense of distance. Smudges of white paint surrounded the peaks of some of the mountains giving it sort of a misty look. A dark brown bookshelf that stretched along the entire length of one wall as well as reaching the ceiling was filled to the edges with books of all different varieties. More books were stacked on both sides next to it in the form of a teetering tower that nearly reached the ceiling itself. The only other furniture in the room, besides the bookshelf and the bed, was a white and black marble writing desk, where a blonde girl was currently sitting, humming a soft tune and seemingly unaware of his presence. He cautiously started making his way to the tower of books, studying her as he went.

She was thoroughly concentrated on whatever she was writing, her hand scribbling so fast Happy thought he could see smoke rising from the tip of her pen. A small smile lit up her face, her lip bit between her teeth in thought. Her hair was tied to the side in a long loose braid, revealing her bare shoulder blades since she was wearing a tank top. Happy could see markings that shimmered silver in the light that were scattered along the top of shoulders and neck, others trailing down the backs of her upper arms and stopping at her elbows. He tilted his head in confusion, and silently asked why she had so many different tattoos that didn't make sense.

The blonde shuffled her arms a bit, causing her strap to fall from her shoulder, making Happy freeze momentarily. He'd seen this one somewhere before, but he couldn't quite remember where. It wasn't big, it didn't have as many lines as some of her other ones did, but Happy could swear he'd seen it, but on someone's arm?

…Natsu's arm!

He jolted in realization, causing him to bump into the leaning tower of books he hadn't realized he had gotten so close to. The tower swayed side to side, Happy staying stock still and watching it nervously. He put his paws up against it to help keep it steady until it final stood straight once again. Happy sighed in relief and leaned against the tower.

Which was of course the worst thing he could have done.

The books came crashing down on the poor blue cat before he had enough time to dash away, shocking the blonde from her trance and had her squealing in surprise as she fell out of her chair.

Happy pushed his way out of the pile of old smelly paper and locked eyes with the blonde that was frozen in her place on her floor.

"A cat?" She so eloquently asked. " A _blue_ cat?"

"Aye! I'm Happy!" The, _talking_ , blue cat replied. "Why do you have the same mark on your shoulder as the one on Natsu's arm?"

The blonde opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally asking, "You know Natsu?"

"Aye!" The, _Happy_ , cheerfully squeaked, "he's my best friend! Natsu was given to me while I was still in my egg and we've been together ever since!"

The girl blinked at him a few times, still processing what he said. "Wait, Natsu…was _given_ to you? What do you mean?"

"That's not important right now," Happy said dismissively with a flick of his paw, "you still haven't answered my question."

"I don't know what you're talking about, what do you mean he has the same mark as me?"

"That little one that's on your shoulder, Natsu has the same on his arm, right here." Happy pointed to the spot on his left arm where the mark would be on Natsu's. The girl's eyebrow's scrunched in confusion, and she opened her mouth to question him again, but her eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth with both hands as she gasped.

"Oh my lanta, I _branded_ him," she breathed in shock. Her hands began to tremble and she blinked away the tears that she could feel in her eyes. "Is he okay? Is his arm alright? Can he move it?" She was frantic as she shot up from the ground and began to quickly pace back and forth, all the while wringing her hands nervously and muttering under her breath. Happy watched her for a moment from his spot, still, buried underneath the books until he called out, "Hey, weirdo, could you help me out? I'm kinda stuck." His call snapped the blonde from her mini freak out and she whipped her head to the side to look at him, but she wasn't really looking at him. It was as if she was staring right through him.

Happy meowed loud enough to startle to her and she muttered an apology as she strode over to rescue him from his confinement. Once he was freed, the girl lifted him up in the air to get a good look at him.

"Huh, you're pretty cute for a trouble making cat," she mused with a teasing grin.

"At least my face doesn't have scribbles on it like a weirdo," Happy retorted smugly.

"They're not scribbles," she said indignantly, "they're constellations. And my name is Lucy."

"Whatever you say, Lushi," he sing-songed as he sprouted his wings and flew over to her bed to snuggle in her pillows. "You have a nice smell," he sighed in contentment, "it's better than the others here."

"What do you mean?" she asked as she walked over to lay down next him.

"I have the ability to detect people's aura," Happy told her proudly, "which is different for every person. No two people have the same. There might be similarities, like between parents and their kids, but there's always something that tells each person apart." Lucy sat up and listened to the cat with rapt attention. Happy noticed this, and felt pride swirl in his chest. No one usually listens to him like this in the guild. It was nice to be taken seriously for a change.

"What is a person's aura? Is it like their soul?" Lucy asked excitedly.

Happy shook his head. "Not exactly," he said, "soul searching is a lot trickier. If I could do that, I'd know exactly how you feel, I'd be able to know what you're thinking, or know what you'd do or say before you do it. I'd know your darkest intentions, your most secret desires." Happy was inwardly cackling at the look on Lucy's face. She was eating up every word he was saying, which was all true, but the girl looked like she'd never heard of any type of sensory magic.

"Wow," she breathed in awe, a smile lighting up her face. Happy narrowed his eyes on her cheeks, it may have just been a trick of the light, but he could have sworn her freckles were twinkling just then. "That's incredible! What else can you do?"

Happy puffed up his chest and lifted his arms to, what Lucy assumed he was trying to do, flex. "I'm really strong! So far I can lift up to thirty-five times my weight! I also can fly about seventy-five miles per hour! I could do more if I trained, but we've all been taking a break the past couple of months after the last battle we had."

The cat looked over at the girl to see her looking at him wide-eyed and her lower jaw dropped in surprise. She sputtered for a few seconds before finally spitting out, "What the butt?! How can your body even bare any of that? That's like, physically impossible! And a battle? Like, a dance battle? A rap battle? What do you mean?"

Happy burst into giggles as Lucy began to ramble on and on about how he literally should not be able to do any of the above said things because she'd never seen something like him before and none of her books mention anything about colorful talking cats with magic abilities. She must be the reason why Natsu looks so puzzled all the time, she's a total weirdo. But Happy decided right then that he liked Lushi. Even though she talked a lot, she had a nice smell, like vanilla and lavender with a hint of burnt rose. Her aura was nice too, it was all light and bubbly, with just a trace of something that Happy couldn't pin point, but it didn't feel pleasant. He'd look at that another time.

The blue cat snorted, and padded over onto the blonde's lap, gaining her attention. "You're weird Lushi, but I like you," he purred as he continuously rubbed his head into her belly, enjoying her nice scent. There was always so many all at once in the guild since their was so many people, but here, it was just Lucy.

The blonde was stunned into silence, slightly miffed but oddly touched by the cats words. She gently laid her hand on top of his head and began to scratch behind his ears, earning an even louder purr from the blue feline. She sighed, but couldn't help the small grin on her face. He was an odd cat, and his very existence shook something within her. How much was out there that she did not know? She could be missing out on so many wonderful things, but she was stuck here, forever trapped in a beautiful cage, the bars made out of her own making.

Something she'd never be able to break free from on her own.

* * *

"How much longer?"

"As long as it takes," a deep voice replied. Gruff, and sounding just as exasperated as the woman who asked the question.

"You've been saying that for the past four hundred years," the woman sighed, crossing her arms underneath her large bust.

"That's because it hasn't been the right time, it still isn't the right time," he replied calmly. "But I can feel it, the change in the winds. It's nearly time. I just hope that they're ready. That she's ready."


End file.
